#and t instead of tt. which is means i just kind of combined those two

[schadenfreudich]

Actually this makes so much sense *zones out instead of explaining what makes sense*

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

So Much Gained

*Elderly Voice* BACK IN MY DAY

I started MH on handheld and there’s a huge change in MH World:

Hunting Horn songs used to be memorized.

For those of you who weren’t on the platform...Yes, I’m actually serious.

You had to know what the song combos were before you went into the battle. Because technically you could look them up while you were in the mission but the point where you realize you need them is once you’re in the fight. You don’t have time to be popping into a menu!

On the other hand this meant you were basically a wizard in the eyes of your fellow hunters. Early on, before you’d memorized monster starting locations, you could use a song that would tell you exactly where your target was on the map. I only did it once, but seriously it feels great.

Anyway, let’s talk how Hunting Horn works:

You’ve got button combos. Once a button combo has been part of your string of button inputs it’ll stay in a short 3-song list until it gets pushed out or you play it. So if T’s the Triangle note, O is the Circle note, C is the Combination of O+T, and F is the new “spinny” note for Iceborne...

TCCTOCTT is one of your best songs for the regular horn. TCCT gives your whole party Defense Up, TOCT gives your whole party Attack Up, and TT gives you faster run speed.

Meanwhile TCCTOCTTT is suddenly bad. Why?

Well, when you do the combo that sets up the Defense Up song, it goes on the list. Once you complete the Attack Up song setup you’ve got Attack Up and then Defense Up on your list. Pressing Triangle once more adds Self-Improvement to the list... But pressing Triangle again adds Self-Improvement to the list again, pushing out the oldest song (in this case, Defense Up). It’s actually fairly common - especially if you’re leaping off ledges to attack something to try and get a mount - that you’re using your Triangle-attack over and over. Every pair of Ts on that button input stream is another Self-Improvement song taking space in your list.

Anyway, once you’ve got songs queued up on your list, you can play them with R2. This stands you still for a moment, but it’s also one of your most powerful attacks! Once you’ve got a feel for a monster’s patterns you’ll want to be playing songs right up in the monster’s face.

And I do mean in its face. As a blunt weapon, the Hunting Horn can dish out massive KO and Exhaust damage, so as tempting as it is to stick near the monster’s safer haunch - or worse, to play your horn from safely across the room - you really ought to be going after its head with your attacks.

Now let’s talk Encores. You’ve queued up Defense Up and pressed R2 to play it. It says it’s giving you “Defense Up (L)” which is great! (The L stands for Large) That’s a major boost to everyone’s defense! But if you follow up by pressing R2 again, in the middle of your animation (it’s about 1.5 seconds later), you do a follow-up animation, swinging your horn around for another heavy hit on the monster (If you tilt the L3 stick left or right you can also reposition a bit with this follow-up) and more importantly upping the power and duration of your song. Instead of “Defense Up (L)” you’ve granted “Defense Up (XL)” which is even better.

So in the top right of the screen, like I said before, MH World generously gives you a list of your possible songs. But it’s even better than that! This list is color-coded to let you know which song buffs are still active. If a song is white, it’s inactive. If it’s green, the regular version of the song is active. And if it’s purple, the advanced version of the song is active.

It’s worth noting (haha, “noting” when you’re playing an instrument!) that a) the Self-Improvement song I mentioned earlier is always the same - your basic attack button twice in a row - and exists on every horn, and b) you want to keep the full Encored version of that song up at all times.

The regular song gives you a faster movement speed while your weapon’s unsheathed. Without it you’re one of the slowest-moving units on the field, down with Gunlance or Heavy Bowgun. WITH it, you’re among the fastest, up with agile folks like Dual Blades or Sword & Shield. Being in the right place for your attacks (and being Not in the Wrong Place for the monster’s attacks) is extremely important, so naturally you want this up at all times.

But the Encore version of this lets you ignore the bouncing mechanic. Some monsters have extremely tough hides (or will just hold up a rock to try to block your attacks!) and certain attacks - especially if your weapon sharpness gets low - will bounce off, doing chip damage and interrupting your combo with a staggering animation. This stagger also puts you at risk, since you can’t dodge until the animation completes.

If you have the full Self-Improvement song, your attacks will go straight through a monster’s defenses, still doing reduced damage if striking a tough defense but never bouncing off. This enables you to keep fighting at your own rhythm, always ready to dodge out when you realize you need to.

And that...page and a half or so...is the basics. As of Iceborne they’ve added a new note, which you activate by pressing L2 (the left trigger button) in the middle of a combo. You’ll know it’s activated because you’ll plant your horn in the ground and spin it. If you’re using elemental or status damage on your horn it’s also worth noticing that this hits 3 or 4 times, so it’s a nice way to do a bunch of hits quickly.

The new “note” shows up on your bar as a sort of Fortissimo symbol, a kind of squiggly f/s looking thing.

Also! If you’ve nearly completed a song combo and just need one more note, the game provides a helpful tip next to your bar, showing the note needed to complete the song and even what song it’ll be! (Pretty useful when you could complete one of two different songs)

Happy Hunting!